ABSTRACT
The popularity and consumption of meat products has increased over the years because of their important roles in human nutrition as nutritive sources of dietary protein with appealing sensory qualities or flavour components. In Turkey, these meat products can be dried, fermented, cured, cooked, emulsified or processed in different ways for human consumption. This chapter presents considerable data about microbial, sensory, and physicochemical quality characteristics and the production methods of Sucuk, Pastirma, Kavurma and different types of meatballs. Quality characteristics Quality characteristics of traditional Sucuk have been determined in Turkish Standard and Microbiological Criteria Regulations of the Turkish Food Codex. In several studies, microorganisms of the sucuk from different regions of Turkey were determined by using phenotypic or genotypic techniques. In addition to beef and buffalo carcasses, camel, sheep, turkey, and occasionally chicken can also be used as a raw material in Pastirma production.
